Television presenter Steve Backshall has been the latest person to wade into the debate over sensational headlines about basking sharks being spotted off the coast of Cornwall.

Backshall, who is also a writer and naturalist and is married to rower Helen Glover, tweeted in reference to the Daily Star's headline referring to 'terrified tourists' after the sightings over the weekend.

He retweeted Dr Ben Garrod who suggested the danger element had been blown out of all proportion.

It comes after a national charity, which campaigns for a better understanding and greater protection of sharks, has rebuked national newspapers for turning a Cornwall Live article about basking sharks making an appearance off Cornwall into a 'monsters from the deep' scaremongering report.

The Shark Trust believes that too many misconceptions remain about basking sharks and sharks in general and that sensationalist headlines from some newspapers and websites are not helping.

Wildlife cruise passengers snapped and filmed the gentle creatures in Mount's Bay while visitors to the Minack Theatre took pictures of basking sharks gently swimming in the waters below as a kayaker paddled past.

However the story and pictures soon became horror stories in some national newspapers.

The Sun went with "BEAST BELOW - Terrifying snap shows HUGE shark lurking just feet from kayaker off Cornwall coast" while the Daily Star opted for the even more subtle "Terrified tourists stalked by SHARKS off Cornwall coast – ‘they were looking at us’".

The Independent went with "Close encounter between shark and kayaker seen off Cornish coast" while the Daily Mail had the headline "Enormous SHARK is spotted swimming just feet from kayaker off the coast in Cornwall".

Ali Hood, director of Conservation at the Plymouth-based Shark Trust, said: "It is frustrating to see headlines like these but it is a perennial issue with some quarters of the press.

"It seems the more we try to educate the more they go for sensationalists stories. They're just trying to sell newspapers but it reinforces the misconception people have of sharks especially basking sharks."

She added: "Basking sharks can be big but they're gentle giants not monsters from the deep. They are a protected species like whales so we ask that people respect a code of conduct when they spot them or are near them."

The company operates environmentally-friendly wildlife-watching trips in west Cornwall and often takes wildlife lovers among the granite cliffs and coves and turquoise waters of the Land's End peninsula.

The sharks, which were seven metres long, have become an increasingly rare sight in our waters.

Hannah Jones, from Marine Discovery Penzance, told Cornwall Live at the time that she has noticed a drop in numbers since 2011. She said: "It could be shortage of favoured prey due to climate change, could be part of a natural cycle, probably a combination of a few factors.

Basking sharks have been spotted off Penzance for the first time this year (Image: Marine Discovery Penzance)

"Our last real peak of sightings came in August 2013. Conversely, as basking shark sightings have decreased, dolphin and porpoise sightings have increased.

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"Due to the very cold end of winter and spring, water temp is actually lower now than it is normally at this time of year.

"However these two were very large sharks and we had better views of them than we have had of sharks for years so it was very exciting to see them. It may be the start of a good basking shark year, or they may be the only ones we see all summer - only time will tell."